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Incontinence following anal gland removal surgery.

Looking for information please in response to recent contacts through the website [Cavalier Matters]

I know it is one of the risks of the surgery, and sadly vets don't always explain that clearly. This is distressing for the dog and difficult to live with. I have lived with urinary incontinence but have no experience managing faecal incontinence [poo!]. Anyone any ideas other than small nappies please?

Urinary incontinence can be managed with belly bands. Faecal incontinence I would think would need dietary advice to keep the faeces as firm as possible and a regular feeding and toiletting routine.
I have found this website which has dog nappies including one for faecal incontinence........http://www.dog-nappy.co.uk/Faecal_design.htm

All of this will be time consuming as these would need changing often. Problems would arise if the dog is not kept dry and clean.

Presumably the vet would have prescribed any medication that may help although I think most of the drugs are for female incontinence. I'm not a great believer in homeopathy but it may be worth the owner speaking to a homepathic vet to see if they know anything that could help.

Margaret C

Cavaliers......Faith, The Ginger Tank and Woody.
Japanese Chins.... Dandy, Benny, Bridgette and Hana.
Remembered with love......... Tommy Tuppence and Fonzi

In humans, diets high in fibre have been shown to have a positive effect on faecal incontinence. Studies have shown that if you add a dietary supplement that contains psyllum, it helped to improve the consistency of the faeces.

There are some things you can do with your dog's food and feeding schedule to help the situation:

Feed two or three small meals rather than one large meal each day.
Switching to a high fiber dog food can produce bulkier (more solid) stools by absorbing stool water. Change foods gradually over a few weeks to reduce the possibility of bloating and gas from the extra fiber.
Help your dog have fewer stools by feeding a highly digestible, low residue dog food. Try a raw diet - preprepared raw available from http://honeysrealdogfood.com/ and or http://www.naturalinstinct.com/

There are also kibbles available.

The nappies look a good idea - with careful management

I use homoeopathy all the time, very successfully - particularly in managing urinary incontinence, in the past with bitches post spay op and also with dogs affected with CM/SM.